Students attending Further Education (PLC) courses (Level 5-6) can get financial support through SUSI.

Itis made up of 2 components:

A Maintenance Grant

A Fee Grant

The Maintenance Grant is a contribution towards the student’s living costs, while the Fee Grant can cover any of the following 3 elements:

Tuition fees

Student contribution and

Cost of essential field trips

In general, if you qualify for a maintenance grant you will also qualify for whatever elements of a fee grant applies to your situation.

Thegrant scheme ismeans-tested. This means that grant rates for qualifying students vary according to a number of factors including:

Household income

Family size and

Whether the student's college is close to their permanent residence

The Means Test

The means test for a student grant is based on your family's gross income for the previous complete tax year unless you, or your family, have had a change of circumstances since the end of the last tax year (which is likely to be permanent). In this case, your changed circumstances may be taken into account.

Reckonable income for a student grant is considered to be the gross (before tax) family income from all sources. Some social welfare payments are excluded from 'reckonable income' for the purposes of student grants - more details on susi.ieand also detailed in the Student Grant Scheme (pdf).

Dependents

If you were ordinarily living at home with your parents from October 1 of the year before the year of entry to the course, you are considered dependent on your parents. In this case, your income (if any) is assessed together with your parents' income(s).

An allowance is made for your earnings outside of term-time. Outside term time is counted as 2 weeks at Christmas, 2 weeks at Easter and 12 weeks during the summer months of June, July and August. (Holiday pay earned outside these periods may also be allowed by the grant awarding authority on receipt of a letter from the school/college confirming the exact dates of term).

Apply Early!

The Student Grant Scheme is quite a detailed application process.It is crucial that you apply as early as possible if you plan to take-up a course of study.

Grant applications are processed in the order in which they are received - the earlier you apply and submit any supporting documents required to SUSI, the earlier you will have a response on the outcome of your application.

SUSI is the centralised online system for processing grant applications.

Maintenance Grants rates are subject to change. Be sure to check susi.ie regularly for any changes.

Adjacent and non-adjacent rates

The adjacent rate of maintenance grant is payable for those students who live 45 kilometres or less from the college being attended. This rate applies to all students living within the specified distance, including all mature students, both dependent and independent.

The non-adjacent rate applies to everyone else.

Grant Payments

Grant Award Payments are made as follows:

Maintenance Grants: are paid in three or nine monthly instalments into your own bank account by EFT (Electronic Fund Transfer).

Fee Grants: Directly to the college/institution you will attend, on your behalf, once the college has confirmed your registration as a student.

NB: Before making an application, students are encouraged to refer to the General Criteria and to use the Eligibility Reckonerprovided on the SUSI website. The eligibility reckoner is provided by SUSI to assist students in deciding whether they should apply for a student grant. It provides a quick indication of eligibility for grant funding based on the answers given to 10 questions without completing and submitting a full online grant application.

If you are doing a Further Education (FE) course and getting the BTEA or a VTOS allowance, you are exempt from the new student participant charge (€200). You may have to pay a course charge for books, exam fees and other costs.

When will SUSI be open for 2020/21 applications?

The SUSI online Student Grant Application System for the 2020/2021 academic year opens on 2nd April, 2020.

Students can continue to apply for grant right up to the first term of the college year.

There is a lot of paperwork involved in applying for a grant so start gathering this information as soon as possible! You will ultimately need an offer from the college in question, however, you do not need to wait until after the Leaving Cert results to begin the process of getting all necessary paperwork together. These will include:

Note: SUSI assesses income from the previous year as part of its assessment criteria.

Where there is self-employed, farming or rental income, SUSI requires a full set of trading accounts for the previous year. SUSI also requires an acknowledgement of self-assessment (received from the Revenue Commissioners on submission of tax returns). SUSI cannot fully process applications without this information, therefore such tax returns should be made early in teh year. Full details are available here.

On initial assessment of your application, if you are considered to be eligible, you will receive a provisional grant approval letter, together with a list of the supporting documents that you need to submit, relavant to your particular application. Send the necessary documents in the envelope provided as soon as possible. You should include photocopies, not originals, as these will not be returned.

Final Course Acceptance (FCA) Form

As a new grant applicant, you do not need to have accepted a place on a college course in order to apply for a grant. However, you will need to inform SUSI that you have been offered and accepted a place on a course before your application can be finalised. You can do this in the following ways:

Online SUSI Grant Application

You can confirm that you have accepted a place on a course when you first submit your online grant application and provide details of your chosen course in section C3 of the online grant application form.

CAO Applicants

If you have allowed CAO (Central Applications Office) to share your information with SUSI, CAO will inform SUSI of this and will confirm details of your chosen course to SUSI when you have accepted a CAO place offer

Online SUSI Final Course Acceptance (FCA) Form

You can inform SUSI that you have accepted a place on a course after you have submitted your grant application by submitting an online FCA form through the homepage of your SUSI account.

If you subsequently accept a place on a different course, or on a course not offered to you through the CAO, you can submit a new online FCA form at any time through the homepage of your SUSI account. Your application will be decided on the basis of the most recent course details provided to SUSI by any of the above methods. Please note that grants can only be awarded in respect of approved course.